Senior security officials in recent months have repeatedly targeted the association, which has been critical of the government.

In an interview with Ta Kung Pao in September, Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung queried whether the association was representative, saying its executive committee was filled with “many student journalists”.

Responding to the accusations, HKJA chairman Ronson Chan Ron-sing said Tang’s information was factually incorrect as students accounted for just 60 of the group’s 459 members, or 13 per cent. Only one of its 11 executive committee members is a student, according to Chan.

Since 2001, the Consumer Council, HKJA and Hong Kong Press Photographers Association have co-organised the awards to raise public awareness of consumer rights, and to award excellence in press coverage of such issues.

But in a statement on Tuesday the council said the awards would “temporarily” not be held.

“In recent years, Hong Kong’s media [landscape], whether online or offline, has developed rapidly and collaboration activities between the council and the media … need to keep up with the times,” the statement said.

“The council decided to launch a full review of the form that the related activities should take, and reformulate our long-term plans. We hope to organise activities in more creative ways to promote consumer protection.

“Therefore, the reporting awards will be suspended temporarily. After the full review of the awards, the event will meet the public with a brand-new look.”

In response, the HKJA said it was “pitiful and disappointing” that the council had made the decision without consulting co-organisers.

“The association understands that in today’s political environment, it is inevitable that countless items, despite their value, may vanish one after the other,” its statement said.

“We hope this will not be the end of the awards. We hope the awards can resume, in a way that is acceptable, after the council’s review.”

Apart from accepting entries from journalists, including those directly employed and freelancers, students in local higher education institutions were also eligible to compete in the campus category.

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Its panel of judges – made up of journalism professors, former and current heads of prominent media outlets, and representatives of the co-organisers – would decide on the winners of seven categories in areas such as textual content and audiovisual production.

The nomination and submission period for the next awards was expected to run early next year.

Peter Kwan Wai, associate dean of Chu Hai College of Higher Education’s department of journalism and communication, has been an adjudicator for the awards’ campus category over the past two years.

He sympathised with journalism students missing out but said he could not comment on why the council was suspending the awards.

“We are teaching students and giving them feedback as professors and former journalists, but these awards gave them the opportunities to compare their work with those from other schools, as well as from professional journalists,” he said.

“It helps them to explore the world of journalism, and the students found it challenging to focus on consumer rights.”